


Adventure Is Out There

by colbyjack



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Louis is Peter, M/M, Niall is Niall, Peter Pan AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 07:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colbyjack/pseuds/colbyjack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting."</i><br/> </p>
<p>Louis and Niall spend their last night together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventure Is Out There

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on ao3, but not my first work in general (: I've been on a writing hiatus for months now and I'm happy to say that I climbed out of my rut by writing this short and sweet little story. I added the Peter Pan quote in the summary because J.M. Barrie has such a way with words. I couldn't help but use a couple more in the rest of the story as well. They were too perfect; too fitting to ignore.

-

-

Three weeks into summer vacation and Niall can count on one hand of how many things he actually enjoyed in that seemingly vast amount of time. Nothing but the usual happened so far—waking up, doing chores, hanging around—and it begrudged Niall to think about it. He got to go to a couple derby matches with his dad since school ended, but that was just about as exciting as any of his days got. 

Niall remembered when he walked out to the mailbox on the first Wednesday of break, grabbed all of the envelopes addressed to his parents, and just as he picked out all the junk mail, out fell an envelope that was meant for him. Tentatively enough, he read the address of the sender and it turned out that it was his report card. Typical morning, having to wake up to a none-too-spectacular set of grades even before he’s had any cereal.

They weren’t bad, just good enough, and Niall had furrowed his eyebrows and even pursed his lips at the thought that he could basically describe his summer to be just that. He also remembered swallowing his spoonful of Cheerios right after he had decided that he’s going to find a way to change things around, make things exciting.

Except things have actually never been too exciting, especially since the last time Louis was here. Niall thought about him a lot—thinks of him whenever he eats breakfast alone or brushes his teeth just before heading off to bed—and he never knew whether Louis only showed up in his dreams or in the reality where he’s stuck at home with nothing to do _but_ to think about him.

The thing is, they’re sort of inseparable, but separated for the majority of the year at a time. It was a complex idea that Niall had tried to rationalize since his third visit, but in its simplest form, he’s just very fond of him—Louis that is—and Niall hopes every night that he’d come back to see him again, and whenever he does it’d always feel like nothing had kept them apart in the first place.

He was a good friend and a good listener with a great sense of humor that was usually mistaken for just cleverly spoken observations. Or the other way around as Niall had once pointed out, which Niall remembers had made Louis retract in feigned offense.

Niall supposed that whenever he _did_ think about him, he’d try not get too sad or even too hopeful, because there was never any telling of when he’d show up again. It’s part of that complex idea that he’s been contemplating over for the past six years. It’s actually been that long already and Niall still can’t grip the fact that not only can he count the somewhat amusing days of his vacation on one hand, but he realized it was the same for Louis’s visits as well.

And so here he is, slumping against the backboard of his bed as he sits up to toss a baseball between his hands without anything better to do. He could tag along with his brother to the pub to get a pint, but his mother is still a bit wary with the idea that Greg would be responsible for his fourteen year old brother being induced with any amount of alcohol.

“Niall?”

The sound nearly startled him since he was knee deep in his own thoughts. His eyes blinked wide as he looked up towards his door from where he was laying around on his bed.

“Yeah, mum?”

He couldn’t really hear anyone if they called for him all the way downstairs. Usually they’d have to climb up half of the stairs for him to catch their voice from his room and he’d hear them just fine, but now he couldn’t tell if anyone had called for him in the first place or if it was all just in his head.

“Niall.”

There it was again and Niall started at the strange voice, because it had somehow traveled from one end of his room to the other.

Niall maneuvered his legs to hang over the edge of his bed and groped around for his baseball bat next to his bedpost. There wasn’t much light in his room at the moment, so Niall fumbled to twist on the lamp next to his bed, but before he could even turn around he heard the soft tapping of someone outside his window.

“Jesus Christ!” Niall threw a hand over his heart once his eyes darted towards the black silhouette framed by his window.

“Louis?”

Niall steadied his breathing. He stared horrified at the sudden change in events and he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes focused on one spot. He wasn't panicking, he was just—shocked. Shocked and full of new air in his lungs just before he let it out with a short yelp of exhilaration.

He threw down his bat and scrambled over to where Louis was, his face still hidden by the shadows of the roof above him. Niall couldn’t hide the eagerness in his face to finally see him after so long, “Warn a guy next time, would ya?”

Louis huffed out a hoarse chuckle as he climbed inside, “But didn’t you hear me calling out your name? How else did you know to look towards the window?”

“Ah, I don’t care anymore anyway,” Niall jumped to wrap his arms around him, “Hi bud, how are you?”

Louis melted in Niall’s warm hug and nuzzled his face in the crook of Niall’s shoulder, “I’m great, Niall.”

The two of them stood there for a while; long enough that Niall found himself beginning to lull to sleep from the way Louis was swaying.

“Missed you,” Niall said quietly, barely even a sound.

Louis hummed against the skin that peeked out from Niall’s collars at the base of his neck, “Missed you too, pal.”

Seconds later, Louis parted away to take Niall’s shoulders and shake him a little. He had a beaming smile on his face; one that made his nose scrunch up and framed his eyes with crinkles of his sun kissed skin as if this one emotion right at that moment filled up every part of his being.

“Follow me.”

He took Niall’s hand, but Niall had just belatedly snapped out of his trance, so he hesitated for half a second before he pulled on his arm to keep Louis anchored to the floor.

“Where are we going? Are we going up—”

“—Up there?” Louis looked out the window for a split second and turned back around to give him another reassuring smile, “Mhm.”

Niall didn’t know what to say or what to do or how to feel. He looked at him as if he’s never seen him before or hasn’t seen him in more than a century. It’s an absurd, inexplicable feeling to want to go with him yet stay in his room at the same time. They could stay here and Niall could catch up on what has happened just by lying in bed and listening to Louis’s stories; stories about his pirate-slaying adventures. He'd be so engrossed by how Louis would jump about in the air and throw up his hands in dramatic gestures all while enthusiastically narrating his actions.

“Can’t we stay here, Louis? I haven’t seen you in so long and I thought that maybe you could just tell me some stories and we can talk or I can just listen while you talk instead, I don’t mind,” Niall cooed.

Louis tilted his head, suddenly overwhelmed by how fond he was of Niall, “Come on, mate. I wanna make this night count. I’ll tell you a story once we get there, alright? I’ve got something to show you.”

“Me?”

“You,” Louis snickered.

He reached into a makeshift pouch that hung on his belt. Niall took this time to look carefully at the soft green fabric of his clothes and the way he looked so small in them. Dirt was all over his the palms of his hands and between his fingers around his knuckles. His hair was just as unruly as Niall remembered it to be and he parted his lips in awe once Louis looked up at him again.

“Here,” he whispered.

He opened his pouch to show Niall that it held the small amount of fairy dust that he had gathered before visiting him. Niall leaned forward and peered into the soft golden light that reflected from the green leaves inside, which made Louis pause for a second and notice the way Niall’s baby pink lips were parted with his eyes heavy with fascination and drowsiness at the same time.

“Come on, Niall, before you fall asleep,” Louis chuckled as he pinched a bit of the glimmering dust and held it in his raised palm between their faces.

The corner of his mouth curled up again when Niall returned the expression. The dim light that radiated from the dust illuminated Niall’s face just the slightest bit—just enough that it touched his lips and the dimple of his chin—and Louis reveled at the sight, because he had to make this night count; has to remember everything that happens because it’s _Niall,_ his Niall, and he’s growing up and Louis’s _not_ and—

“Louis?”

Niall pressed his lips together in slight concern before Louis blinked a few times to gather himself and continue with what he was doing before he zoned out.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and followed it up with yet another one of his smiles meant only for Niall.

He took a deep breath and blew into his hand. The twinkling dust rose up into the air for just a second before they fluttered back down and rested on the top of Niall’s hair and the tips of his eyelashes. He had scrunched up his face so that none of it would get into his mouth or eyes and Louis giggled at the way his cheeks began to redden because he was even holding his breath.

“Am I flying yet?” Niall asked; his eyes still closed.

“Not quite,” Louis lifted up his hand and gently touched the corner of Niall’s eye, “you’re forgetting something.”

Without realizing it—or realizing too late—Louis’s fingers slowly trailed down his temple and cheek and jaw. 

Louis leaned forward; close enough that his lips hovered above the shell of Niall’s ear, “Are you thinking happy thoughts?”

His gentle little touches relaxed the muscles in Niall’s face and when he opened his eyes—those impossible blue eyes that shone green in the soft golden light around them—he began to feel lighter than air. Like a bird or something better, something that can fly even higher, farther.

“—of you actually,” Niall forced out of his tight throat. 

Louis retracted; suddenly filled with an irremediable sort of emotion. 

Niall sighed, “Louis? You know it’s been more than a year and a half this time right?”

Louis widened his eyes only a little bit and pushed his feet off the ground.

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you want to see me?”

“’Course.”

“Why so long then?”

Louis’s never felt like this, he’s never planned to and would never want to, but he is. This is grownup stuff and it’s scaring him because Niall is asking these grownup things and Louis isn’t ready— _can’t_ be ready. Never will be.

“I don’t know.”

“But you must know.”

“I don’t want you to say things like that.”

“Why not?”

Louis noticed his whole body was shaking now. He was trembling and it was getting a lot more difficult to hover in the air with all of Niall’s questions.

“We’re only kids. Kids don’t have to explain why they’ve been away for so long, they only feel glad once they return,” he finally replied with an anxious breath and Niall had nothing more to say.

Louis helped Niall rise up a bit higher into the air, get him used to flying again since it’s been a while, and then took his hand.

He squeezed it once and tried to smile, “Niall, don’t worry about all of that, okay? Just focus on all the fun we’ll have on Neverland. When we get there I’ll show you around again like last time in case you forgot what it was like, yeah?”

Niall nodded and Louis tightened his grip comfortingly.

Louis led Niall over to the ledge of the open window and helped him find his balance. At first, Niall couldn’t set his left foot steady and almost fell backwards, but as soon as he slipped, he felt the comforting weight of Louis behind him; the warmth of his broad chest seeping into the back of Niall’s shirt.

Niall drew in a deep breath—one that lingered and swirled around in his lungs that made them become too big for his ribcage to hold until he turned to his side and lost it all, because Louis’s chin was perched on his shoulder.

“Here’s to new adventures,” Louis giggled and Niall could’ve sworn he heard the rustle of the trees echo the sound, for Louis’s laugh is the most contagious thing.

And that was that. One leap off the window sill and they were headed for the stars with the rush of the wind whipping against their faces as it tried to catch up.

The breathless exhilaration filled them both with air and confidence. The mere smile on Louis’s face as he looked over his shoulder to a lagging blonde boy was enough to conjure up his own light. Their arms were stretched wide on either side of their bodies and they flew—flew their hearts out until dawn for they hadn’t a drop of exhaustion in them.

To fly with only one goal—to be so focused on something that it is simply searing passion; a passion that envelopes your entire body, mind, and energy—is one thing that grownups cannot accept that they miss. And it is the one thing that Louis is driven to show Niall how to do. He wants Niall to keep it with him, the idea that life should be seen through a child’s eye—that the things that make you happy should only be enjoyed and never condemned nor shunned nor taken away from you.

And it filled him up. It shone on Louis’s face like sunlight and twinkled in his eyes; the very mantra that he lived by.

Niall could remember the very first time Louis visited him. It was on his eighth birthday and it was raining and Niall had been very upset that nobody came to see him that day. So Louis showed up with an all-too-knowing smile and a bag full of neat pocket knives, slingshots, and some souvenirs from ransacking pirate ships. He looked exactly the same then; same wild hair all tucked underneath a pointed evergreen hat and the same smile with its devious intents masked by such friendly eyes.

When he left that day, Niall begged Louis to come back the next night, but Louis told him that he couldn’t. It was against his routinely norms to visit a child more than once, because they’d get too attached to him and, maybe, _he_ might get attached to them. 

But the look in Niall’s wide, unmoving set of blue eyes looked like crystals just discovered in a mine—Louis didn’t dare disturb the balance of things, but he couldn’t help but be fascinated by what he saw.

And so he promised he’d be back soon, and he did, but by then, Niall had turned nine.

It went on like that—story after story, visit after visit, year after year, and Niall began to feel like Louis had become something irreplaceable; something much more than a friend or even a brother. A guardian almost, but one that lit up Niall’s face every time he’d tell a joke, one that made Niall feel like he’s the only reason why Louis is there. 

Sometimes Niall would find an acorn under his pillow one morning or step on a big leaf by his bed that had weird etchings on it as if Louis had scrawled a map for him to follow. One time, Niall wrote a letter to Louis and stuck it in the small crack under his window hoping that he’d see it and take it. But after weeks of letting it alone, Niall finally realized that Louis can’t write or even read, so once he took down the note, the very next day he found a long red feather fluttering in the place of where it used to be.

That was when Niall was twelve. Niall was thirteen when Louis first took him to Neverland and it was also when Niall first thought of Louis as someone he might love in the future.

He wanted to tell him so they could figure out why he had such thoughts, but Louis would never want to hear about it. He told Niall that adult things like feelings would make him sick and that he could possibly die, and Niall didn’t want that. So he kept it to himself as he did with all of the presents Louis gave him.

Now, though, Niall wonders if anything’s changed since the last time he’s seen him.

“We’re here,” Louis announced and broke Niall’s train of thoughts.

They circled the crescent beach once before they headed straight for Pirate’s Cove. They spent their morning there waiting for the slumbering pirates to take their first breath of air on the ship’s deck. Louis and Niall had a bit of fun setting up booby traps around the ship while they all slept soundly below, and enjoyed watching them from up on the clouds as they foolishly fell for every one of them.

That night, Louis took Niall over to where the Indians were and they spent the rest of the afternoon there dancing around a midday bonfire. Niall’s favorite part had to be when Louis sat down in front of him and helped him with his face paint, because it had all just been silly fun until their faces were a few inches apart.

“It’s cold,” Niall giggled as Louis smeared a line of red paint down the length of his forehead to the tip of his nose.

“Must be,” Louis smirked.

He dipped his forefinger and middle finger into the small palette before he lifted them up to Niall’s cheek. He drew two diagonal lines going in different directions, much like whiskers, and did the same for the other cheek. Louis stole a glimpse at Niall’s eyes as he did this and saw to his surprise that Niall had been staring at him the whole time.

“You probably made me look more like a kitten than an eagle,” Niall smiled at him and let out a soft laugh.

Louis returned the smile and went back to gather more paint onto his fingers. He touched the skin just below Niall’s bottom lip—which was so _pink_ from this close and in this light, Louis had noticed—and glazed the red paint over his chin. Louis kept staring at Niall’s lips even after he had brought his hand away from between them. He unknowingly relaxed his own mouth as well and felt his lips part just the way Niall’s were. 

There was a beat of silence; only the crackle of the fire was heard above the sound of their blood pounding in their ears, but the second Niall’s eyes widened, Louis suddenly realized how close their faces really were. He had leaned forward so much and his head was even tilted and he couldn’t explain _any_ of it and it _scared_ him.

He scrambled away and unintentionally pushed Niall’s shoulders, which sent him falling backwards onto his elbows. Louis breathed hard through his mouth and stared at Niall with his reflective blue eyes. He felt horrible for pushing him but also rather terrified of what was about to happen and he couldn’t stand the look of Niall’s hurt expression.

“What’s wrong?” Niall said in the quietest voice, afraid of upsetting Louis further.

“Please Niall,” Louis’s voice came out broken and rasped, “We can’t—we shouldn’t be—Niall, please don’t ever—”

“But I didn’t do anything Louis,” Niall’s shaking voice cracked under his gaze.

He searched desperately for his breath and nodded slowly. 

“Okay,” Louis squeaked.

He didn’t want this to ruin their day; he wanted nothing more than to remember it like it is. There was nothing he could do but move on, so he whispered a quick “I’m sorry” and held out his hand for Niall to take.

“Come on,” Louis urged as he gave him a quick hug around the shoulders, “Let me show you something.”

-

-

They headed for the part of the forest where all of the fairies lived in a cluster of trees. The sun was at the point of the evening where it had long given out and Louis was eager for Niall to see how the light from holes in the trees looked as if the starry sky had lowered itself even closer to the earth.

Dots of the fairies’ golden light speckled the area around them and made Niall feel like he was thrown into space—somewhere farther than his mind can imagine yet not as far as to where Louis’s can already understand.

“This is amazing,” was all Niall could say; he twirled with his arms spread out like he was absorbing it all.

Louis hovered close by with his arms crossed and his chest full of accomplishment just watching the way this made Niall so happy.

“Dance with me,” Niall perked up.

Louis’s arms uncrossed, “What?”

“Come here!” Niall held out his hands and reached for Louis who floated above him.

“Are you insane?” Louis laughed.

“No, just hopeful.”

“For what?”

Niall tilted his head, “For you to dance with me.”

“No way.”

“Please?”

Despite the nagging feeling in his stomach, Louis drifted down to where Niall was, “You sure?”

He tentatively slipped his hands into Niall’s once his feet finally touched the ground. Niall beamed at him and began to spin him around clumsily, but there was so much fervor and joy in the laugh that left him. Louis tried to keep up but he stumbled over his feet and let out yelps of frustration and confusion and torment and it all just made Niall overwhelming _happy_ —so full of elation and delight and Louis caught that in his eyes.

It’s what he lives for, seeing kids wrapped in their own exultation. And so Louis decided to grab Niall by the waist and shoot themselves up high into the midnight blue sky, which made Niall nearly scream from the shock.

“Hang on!”

Niall didn’t know that he was letting out such frightened whimpers and it made Louis feel kind of breathless; it made his heart beat a little faster and he didn’t know how to control it this time.

“Just—hold on to my neck, Niall, don’t—don’t be scared,” Louis whispered to him.

Niall wriggled up Louis’s body and threw his arms around his shoulders. He buried his face into his neck and even brought his legs around Louis’s waist as well.

“Niall, listen,” Louis held him up by keeping an arm over his back while the other petted his hair, “Remember you can fly, alright? The moment you doubt that you can, you’ll forever lose the ability to.”

Niall shakily brought his face out from pressed against Louis’s neck and tried to nod. He could feel the breeze slip past their bodies and through their clothes, reminding Niall that he was lighter than air. He looked at Louis then—unsure of how to let go—and swallowed thickly when Louis leaned in a little closer to him. He pressed his forehead to Niall’s and relished the very feeling of the touch, and it somehow became the one thing Louis can never really understand.

Niall closed his eyes and inched forward a bit so their noses touched and Louis flinched for a second, but he tried again and soon melted as they kept their faces so close together.

“Just let your feet down now and feel the weight of the ground beneath you,” Louis said after finding his voice for what felt like forever.

Niall did and Louis eased him a bit further, “Just trust in your happy thoughts; trust that they’ll never leave you once you let go.”

Louis slowly removed his hand from behind Niall’s back and let him find his own balance in the air. Their foreheads were still touching and their eyes were still closed because no matter how much Louis was confident in helping Niall stay afloat, he wasn’t sure how to handle the way his heart would feel if he dared to open his eyes.

“Just—” Louis gulped hard, “—let go of me, Niall. Just let go. Practice letting me go.”

Niall shook his head and hugged Louis’s shoulders a little tighter, “I can’t.”

"You've got to try."

"I can't let you go."

Louis held him tighter, suddenly scared for the two of them that they might plunge to their deaths on the forest floor, "Is it because you're scared?"

"Yes."

"Scared of falling?" His strangled voice felt thick in his throat. 

"Sared of losing you," Niall mewled against Louis's cheek, "Scared of not being with you--not seeing you again." 

And Louis—for the first time in his entire life—suddenly felt defeated. He hugged Niall again with both arms around his middle and gently brought them down together until they reached the ground. He felt like all of his energy was ripped from him and he sunk into Niall’s arms more than he meant to.

“It’s my fault that you can’t,” Louis exasperatedly said, “I should’ve never come back to see you again after the first time.”

He felt so angry at himself and he could feel it in the shuddered breaths that left him.

“I should’ve never been able to watch you grow up,” he confessed and Niall finally parted away.

“But I’m not a grownup yet, Louis.”

“But you are _growing up,”_ he said with a voice laced with resentment.

And Niall had nothing more to say. It took a few minutes for Louis to calm down, and it took another few minutes for the two of them to realize that it might be time to go home.

-

-

While the day in Neverland felt drawn out and longer than the year they’ve been apart, the flight back home lasted only a few minutes before Niall could spot his neighborhood below them. It was still night time and it baffled Niall to think that all that time away from home could only have lasted a few minutes. Once they got to his home, they crept down the roof and tiptoed onto the ledge near his bedroom window without making too much noise as they crawled inside.

Louis dusted the dirt off his shoes and stared at Niall as he turned around to look at Louis one last time. Louis chuckled as he pointedly reminded Niall that he still had paint on his face, so Louis grabbed a shirt that was lying around and wiped it off for him. Almost immediately after, Niall jumped to hug him again and squeezed him as hard as he could possibly handle, because he knew all too well that they wouldn’t see each other again for quite some time.

They stood there soundly; unbothered by anything. 

Then after some time, Louis finally said, “I have to go.”

Niall hesitated for a moment before he found the will to step away from him. He ambled over to his bed and plopped down onto the disheveled, white blankets. He felt a frown grow on his face and it consumed him; it engulfed his stomach and chest and heart and neck and Niall suddenly felt like he was drowning.

But then Louis flew in above him. Niall watched with huge eyes as he hovered over him and looked at him with the fondest expression on his face. The corner of his mouth curled up in the way it always did before he did something rather extraordinary.

He lowered himself slowly—slow enough that Niall had lost track of the world around them—and settled himself on top of him. His left knee rested between Niall’s legs while the other was over his hip, ready to fly away if this all became too much for either of them.

Louis’s hands were on either side of Niall, holding his weight as he stared longingly down at him. He could see how much Niall was shaking and he could feel it deep in the marrow of his own bones. 

Louis finally leaned down close enough so that he felt the warmth of Niall’s skin on his face and breathed in this one moment between them. He almost fidgeted when he felt Niall’s fingers slip into his hair and gasped when his palms lay flat against his flushed cheeks.

Louis played with the feeling of his lips barely touching Niall’s, "Are you still scared?"

Niall swallowed thickly and nodded as best as he could even though he had lost every sense of rationality in him, because Louis's voice came out rough and beaten yet it still sounded like the sweetest thing Niall has ever known. The sensation soon overtook the two of them and Louis finally pressed their lips together. 

It was soft; soft like the same wind that held the two of them up as they flew in the air. Niall’s lips were warm and Louis felt drunk with the taste of them—sweet like honey and raspberries. He felt Niall’s hand trail from his face and slide to his neck just as Louis got brave enough to lick into his mouth. 

But then Niall let out a quiet little moan between their open mouths and their lips brushed together hotly in that one second. Louis gasped and squeezed his eyes shut before pulling away, feeling Niall’s hands slip from his neck.

“Niall,” he said unsteadily.

Louis lowered his head again, though not enough that he could kiss him, but Niall lifted his head anyway and planted his lips onto his three more times before Louis could stop to say anything more.

“Listen to me, Niall,” he said sweetly, “this is the last time I’ll see you.”

The look on his face practically broke his heart.

Louis continued, “You’re fourteen now and I haven’t grown since I met you when you were eight. It will keep on like that until you become a grownup while I stay the way I am. I want you to know that it’s okay for you to leave me behind. Don’t feel bad about getting older. I know that’s crazy to hear, especially since it’s coming from me, but remember that you will be living out the one adventure I’ll never get to experience.”

Niall blinked once and Louis could see his eyes glazed with the moon’s reflection. 

“Don’t leave me,” he said, “Please come back again.”

Louis shook his head. He placed his hand on Niall’s forehead and gently pushed back his bangs with trembling fingers.

“Promise me you’ll come back.”

Louis breathed shakily through his nose as he slowly shook his head, barely able to get through his next sentence, “You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you can still remember dreaming?”

Niall nodded and fell limp to Louis’s touch.

“That’s where I will always love you,” Louis finally said, “That’s where I will always be waiting.”

And Niall had nothing more to say.

Louis bent down and kissed him again; four, five, or maybe eleven more times before either of them were ready to part ways for good. He flew over to the window and stood on the window sill for the final time as Niall jumped out of bed and stood there looking up at him. They shared one last look—one that was embedded with something that resembled much like heartache—before Louis brightened up with his famously devious little smile.

“Always keep adventuring, pal,” he saluted him. 

He turned around and then he was off.

Off to bigger adventures, wherever he may find them. And Niall figured that as long as Louis was out there, he would live out his life as greatly as Louis would have wanted him to, because maybe someday, someone much like him would show up in Niall’s life and they’d devote their days to adventuring together. 

So Niall returned to getting through his summer vacation, but with an entirely new light. He made the best of everything and saw the world as his to explore. With bright eyes and a smile as contagious and as mischievous as Louis’s, Niall approached life with an eagerness about him. His infectious personality expanded as if he had swallowed up the sun and he was soon able to leave an impression on everyone he met.

And Louis’s mantra still flows inside him; his song courses through his veins and he feels the melody of it begin to define him. It leaves his throat as the hymn of all the lost boys stuck in an ageless timeline, led by only the fearless. It shaped Niall’s voice—gave it strength and confidence—and the music that weaved in and out of every lyric is filled with the very essence of the Greatest Boy Who Ever Lived; the boy who taught him everything about what life should be about.

And so, more than two years later, Niall decided to try out for the biggest adventure of his life and auditioned for The X-Factor. 

And whether it was luck or whether it was fate, he was more than glad to have made it through, but he was even gladder to have met new people—people with great talent and personalities like gold—though strangely enough, one in particular struck him as an old friend.

-

-


End file.
